Heart thumping. Feet throbbing. Coaches yelling. Junior Mikayla Reed endured many hardships and obstacles to earn first place at the State cross-country meet in Jefferson City.

“My hopes were to have no regrets; just leave it all on the course,” said Reed.

While preparing for her season, Reed was in a four-wheeling accident. She hurt her wrist as a result of that accident. She had to take three weeks off of training, which in cross-country is a huge setback.

“It was very frustrating when I was trying to come back because I was out of shape, it was hard to run and keep up with the other girls,” Reed said. “It took me a while to come back.”

Despite the three week setback, she won a total of five races this season, consisting of Festus Bowles Invitational, GACs, Districts, Sectionals and, as mentioned before, State. She attributes her success to her team.

“[What contributed the most to my success was] obviously the team. [Our motto is] ‘As a team’,” said Reed.

The tight-knit girls cross country team does a lot of ice-baths, pasta parties and running together.

“The team is very close. We pick each others boogers. We’ve ran over 500 miles together, of course we’re going to be close,” sophomore Claire Ayers said.

Mikayla is very thankful to all who have supported her in her running career so far.

“Thank you to all my parents, coaches, teammates and everyone that has helped me make it this far,” Reed said. “Without them I couldn’t do it.”